The Diablo Chronicles: Enemies & Combat

"You move between tight clusters of rocks so that the Fallen can't swarm you from all sides. You prioritize your targets, choosing carefully between the foes that trap you, the foes that slowly peck away at your life, and the sluggish, but heavily armored threat. And then, you let fly with some surprising maneuvers of your own."

The heart of the series remains unchanged. Diablo is back and both he and his minions are threatening this world. It is our job to hunt and put them down. The various aspects of combat haven't changed much across the series, but rather have been expanded and built upon. This Chronicle will cover those aspects as well as the monsters and demons that have also evolved quite a bit. And as with all fights, this Chronicle begins with...

Encountering the Enemies

The very first meeting players had with enemies used to be somewhat disappointing. Most idled around, seemingly waiting for someone to step up and fight them. This applied to both Diablo I and Diablo II, but not so much for Diablo III. While there are still a lot of enemies simply waiting for someone to attack, there are also enemies with other ways to appear and approach you. Take the //www.diablowiki.com/Dark_Vessel">Dark Vessels" class="wiki-link">//www.diablowiki.com/Dark_Vessel">Dark Vessels"/> Dark Vessels, for example. These possessed cultists will remain in place as you near them, tapping their staves on the ground. The demon possessing them will eventually tear its host apart and emerge into the field, unless their hosts are killed in the meantime. Other enemies such as the Undead //www.diablowiki.com/Ghoul_(Diablo_III)">Ghouls" class="wiki-link">//www.diablowiki.com/Ghoul_(Diablo_III)">Ghouls"/> Ghouls will at times not be present when you arrive, but shortly after they can be seen climbing the walls in order to reach and surround you.

Diablo I had a lot of different enemies, Diablo II increased that number, and Diablo III will extend the amount of enemies by even more. They all have something that makes them unique, be it stats or a certain ability. These differences are often designed to work together in order to provide an even greater challenge, such as the Skeletal Shieldmen's ability to protect those behind them from damage, or the //www.diablowiki.com/Overseer">Overseers" class="wiki-link">//www.diablowiki.com/Overseer">Overseers"/> Overseers in Diablo II that will heal, buff or even turn their minions into suicide bombers.

In order to create even more interesting and varied encounters there are three randomization systems in place that have evolved throughout the series.

The Chaos Sanctuary contains 4 Super Uniques

The first was introduced back in Diablo I and was the random placement of enemies. Each time a new game was started a new set of enemies were placed at random positions together with the randomization of the map. As with maps there were some areas with less randomized enemies than others, something that will stay the same in Diablo III. Examples of this are areas with quest objectives, areas with specific events, areas with certain Super Unique enemies, and of course the lairs of the boss enemies.

The second and third systems were very similar to each other and were both introduced in Diablo II. The first of the two generated //www.diablowiki.com/Champion">Champions" class="wiki-link">//www.diablowiki.com/Champion">Champions"/> Champions, indicated by a name in blue. When they spawned, they did so in groups of varying sizes, with each member of that group being one of the five different Champion types. The type decided which set of stats changes had applied on top of the standard monster level and health boost that were given to all Champions.

The third and final system generated //www.diablowiki.com/Unique_monster">Unique" class="wiki-link">//www.diablowiki.com/Unique_monster">Unique"/> Unique enemies, indicated by a name in gold. They never spawned in groups, but were always accompanied by minions. Each Unique was given a random set of additional enchantments and abilities that sometimes also affected their minions as well. There were thirteen different abilities they could spawn with, including Extra Fast, Teleporting, Lightning Enchanted, and a dozen more. Some Unique enemies were extra powerful, not randomized, and sometimes part of a quest. They were referred to as Super Unique enemies and included familiar faces like Blood Raven and Rakanishu, but also all act bosses.

Examples of either Champions or Uniques have been seen in Diablo III, but it is still unknown whether or not they both exist or if they have been merged and/or tweaked in some way.

Brainzzzz

Goatman Shaman

There was not much complexity in the attacks of the monsters in the previous installments of the series. They pretty much used the simple strategy of picking the closest target and attacking it. Even the bosses didn't have a much more sophisticated AI beyond the ability to use a larger and more impressive spell pool. We have seen proof of some significant improvements in Diablo III, such as //www.diablowiki.com/Goatman_Shaman">Goatman Shamans" class="wiki-link">//www.diablowiki.com/Goatman_Shaman">Goatman Shamans"/> Goatman Shamans running away to find a new pack when its first is dead, or Desert Wasps hovering away from players to position themselves better. Of course a clever AI like this is not applied to all enemies, only those to which it makes sense. You won't be seeing extremely clever //www.diablowiki.com/The_Fallen_Ones#Imps">Fallen Imps" class="wiki-link">//www.diablowiki.com/The_Fallen_Ones#Imps">Fallen Imps"/> Fallen Imps avoiding every projectile you throw at them, and half of the entire enemy group won't suddenly run away to join another group, eventually creating a group so large that it is overwhelming.

Big Bad Bosses

Impressive spells aside, there were not a lot of interesting mechanics in place to make boss fights interesting in the previous games. Depending on your strength compared to the boss you would end up either soaking up every attack from the boss (with the aid of Healing Potions) while dealing more damage in return from your own spells, or you would run around in circles in order to kite it to death. When you think about it there was really no difference between regular enemies and bosses in terms of how you fought them. In many cases it was actually easier to fight a boss because it alone couldn't reduce your hp faster than your flow of Potions could restore it. The only exception would have to be when Diablo used his Lightning Inferno, a spell that could easily kill those without enough survivability in a few seconds. Spells like that makes bosses interesting because it encourages swift reactions in order to survive, although the near instant death of the Lightning Inferno might be a bit too punishing.

Click for a larger version

This appears to be the route Blizzard has chosen for bosses this time. Unless you play as a bulky Barbarian you probably won't be able to soak up all of the attacks a heavy boss will throw at you. This is further emphasized by the cooldown given to all Potions, something that will surely make players care more about their red globe. However, you might think that you are safe from damage if you choose to play with a Barbarian as one of your party members, but that is not necessarily true. One example of this is the //www.diablowiki.com/Siegebreaker_Assault_Beast">Siegebreaker" class="wiki-link">//www.diablowiki.com/Siegebreaker_Assault_Beast">Siegebreaker"/> Siegebreaker's ability to charge through his enemies, possibly through the Barbarian and into another player. The Barbarian would have to act swiftly to gain its attention again before the Siegebreaker decides to target the other player that now is much closer to it.

Of course every boss won't be using a charge attack, but most should have some way to make you feel threatened regardless of your position. The Thousand Pounder rages into a frenzy near death, drastically increasing his speed. The Skeleton King might not be the most challenging opponent by himself, but in order to compensate for that he starts off by summoning minions to aid him.

A good way to experience these changes for yourself, other than fighting the bosses yourself when the game is released (or maybe in the beta if we are lucky), might be to watch a video. I have compiled footage of the Thousand Pounder, the Skeleton King and the Siegebreaker Assault Beast for your convenience. If you haven't seen it already, make sure to pay close attention to the execution of the Witch Doctor and Barbarian by the Siegebreaker. Personally, I find that part to be particularly awesome.

A few other things have to be mentioned before rounding this one up. Some significant changes have been made to some very key elements that greatly affect combat. Back in Diablo I you could only walk, so your mobility was very limited. Diablo II increased that mobility by introducing Stamina as a resource for running. This was very important since without the ability to run you were often not able to escape pursuing enemies. What happened to this system in Diablo III is still unclear, but by looking at the UI it appears that Stamina has been removed, which would mean that players can at least run at all times if they wish.

After that we have the addition of a cooldown for Potions, something that didn't exist in the previous implementations of the system. In its place we have been introduced to the Health Globes, an item with a chance to drop from any enemy that restores health over time to everyone nearby when touched.

As stated in the previous Chronicle, Town Portals are removed and are no longer a shortcut out of any danger. If you are overwhelmed you can't simply take a portal to town and wait for your party to solve the problem, you have to do your best to survive.

Finally there is the major change made to resource systems in Diablo III. The purpose of this change is to create more unique gameplay between each class.

The Witch Doctor is using the well-known Mana system that I'm sure everyone is familiar with. The pool is large and regenerates slowly, thereby enabling stable damage to be dealt until the large pool is empty.

Are you Following me?

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Hirelings, introduced in Diablo II and commonly referred to as Mercenaries (because almost every build preferred an //www.diablowiki.com/Hirelings#Act_II_Desert_Mercenary">Act 2 Mercenary" class="wiki-link">//www.diablowiki.com/Hirelings#Act_II_Desert_Mercenary">Act 2 Mercenary"/> Act 2 Mercenary Hireling), are returning in Diablo III as Followers. They work similarly to how they did in Diablo II, as a sort of secondary character that can be equipped and aid you in combat. However, this time they are more focused on a specific task and not as interchangeable. If you want a tank there is a specific Follower for that, etc. There is also another type of Hirelings, namely NPCs that will join you at times during quest or other events. They are mostly intended as cannon fodder or are there to be a part of a storyline, they can not help you as much as your Follower.

Previously when a Hireling died it had to be resurrected for gold by an NPC in town. This often made Hirelings more of an annoyance than a helpful comrade. Because of their lack of clever AI you could find yourself paying for a resurrection every 5-10 minutes, a cost that was far too expensive for a lot of players. This system is replaced by a more forgiving system in Diablo III. When they die they merely become unconscious for a while, or until you channel on them.

Another major difference is that you don't replace a Follower by choosing to use another one. The rest will remain in town for your return while also gaining the same experience as the one that is currently following your character. They will even gain experience if none of the Followers are in use, so you don't lose anything by not using a Follower for a while. Still they are completely optional and are not required to beat the game.

Their inventory system is very basic. There is room for a weapon, a shield, an amulet, two rings, and a class specific item that is unlocked at level 25. It is not too different from Diablo II where there was a helm slot and an armor slot instead of the jewelry slots, and no class specific item slots.

It is also important to note that unlike in Diablo II, Followers can only be used when playing solo. If someone joins your game the Follower will head back to your caravan, and similarly it will come back if you are alone after someone leaves. They are also not designed to be very useful beyond Normal.

For a more detailed description of Followers, their identities and mechanics, ScyberDragon compiled all the details in this thread. In case you also want to see the Followers in action, here is the announcement video:

That's it for this Chronicle. I hope you enjoyed this look at the aspects of enemies and combat, and how they have evolved from the simplicity of the previous games. If you missed the previous Chronicle and want a look at Sanctuary as it is seen in the game, here is a link to it. With nothing more to say... Bye!

I can't wait to see the Demon Hunter's resource system, I guess they'll show it when they release all the resource systems on the official site.

I wonder if we will at least be able to use Followers on Nightmare and Hell as distractions, in case we get pinned down somewhere. If one is playing as the Demon Hunter or the Wizard, I gather they could come in handy.

Wow. Amazing article. Nicely structured, well articulated, lots of facts and good comparisons. Very good job writing it, but tell me, how long did it take you from the first research to writing the last letter?

Wow. Amazing article. Nicely structured, well articulated, lots of facts and good comparisons. Very good job writing it, but tell me, how long did it take you from the first research to writing the last letter?

Thanks!

I wrote it in 3 sessions, each being about 1.5-3 hours depending on how much info I had to search for. The video took about 2 hours (damn I suck at video editing). Links, images and minor changes here and there took about 2 hours. The final structuring took somewhere around 2 hours (before that it was plain text and fewer images). Then Followers were announced and I spent about an hour including that information.

That's about it. It was technically done two weeks ago, sorry for the delay

I am re-watching some God Of War 3 playthroughs. Though it is a different game, setting and feel it makes me realize how far games have come in terms of Boss Fights. GOW is all about being over the top where as Diablo's heroes feel more grounded to their limits of strength and scope but it would be nice to see boss fights go beyond simple mechanics of adds creating the challenge. Hopefully Diablo 3 will have some dynamic feeling battles instead of it being just a more polished version of D1 and D2.

Good read...... Who thinks the Demon hunters resource is Stamina? I think it sounds crazy.......So crazy...it....might ...just ....work!

Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack

"Give a man a skill tree, and he will become a Fire Sorc. Give a man 6 skills to choose from, pulling from all three trees, and he becomes a Fire Sorc that likes to shoot lightning to manage the bigger crowds."

I thoroughly enjoyed it, thank you
I'm interested in seeing what other mechanics the major bosses will have. Could be really interesting
Buuut, on that note, i do also hope the mechanics that have to be aplied to kill the boss, wont be mandatory, so you can still kill the boss, albeit whith a bit more difficulty.

I wish they would just allow mercenaries in multiplayer. People argue that they have to balance the game for having one, so if you opt out of using one you're SOL. But this isn't true, they would just have to increase the difficulty of the monsters as if the merc was another player (or half player since they rarely are as tough as a real player's character) just like they do in diablo 2 when a new player enters your game.

Yes, I meant the randomly generated Uniques. I added the part about non-randomized Super Uniques (which obviously existed in D1) just before I posted this and I forgot to change that part.

I wish they would just allow mercenaries in multiplayer. People argue that they have to balance the game for having one, so if you opt out of using one you're SOL.

I can see three reasons for why they aren't allowed in multiplayer.

1. They contribute to the mess of bodies running around on the screen. A lot of things (player cap, skill effects, etc) have been reduced so we will actually be able to see what is going on. This is another example of that.

2. Giving gear to a Follower might be good for when you need someone to complement your solo character (Templar for tanking when you play as a Wizard, for example), but with a party you don't need that assistance.

3. Followers are also there to promote co-operative play, and to teach players how to work together with a partner. They introduce people to the co-operative multiplayer that will eventually replace them.

Buuut, on that note, i do also hope the mechanics that have to be aplied to kill the boss, wont be mandatory, so you can still kill the boss, albeit whith a bit more difficulty.

Undoubtedly With enough of a power advantage you shouldn't have to "follow the rules of the boss". The Siege Breaker is a great example of a boss with a lot of powerful attacks that you probably want to avoid if you are fragile, but if you are strong enough to take the blows then why waste time avoiding them?